“In meetings up and down the country, managers have voiced their frustration at these unnecessary changes to the pension scheme.

“Some key concerns of members are subject to further discussions – in particular the linking of pension age to state pension age, the use of tiered contributions in a career average scheme and the issue of widening access to the scheme to non-NHS employees, as the NHS goes through massive upheaval.”

The NHS is at risk of losing significant amounts of its additional funding growth because of the time it will take to address its workforce shortages, according to a former Department of Health senior official.